I didn't sleep well on Friday night as I was heading to the bank on Saturday morning. I needed money from my tax-free savings account to pay the stage two local agency fees I had put on my poor VISA, that I am now praying won't melt down!!!!!! I also had to take the fees for the agency in Ontario out of my mutual funds. To some people the amount may not seem too huge, but to me it was enormous. Talk about an anxiety attack! It will take a couple of days for these amounts to show up in my savings account. There is no going back once I send that check to Ontario. Don't get me wrong, I certainly don't want to stop the process, but this is a significant step in the process! The agency in Ontario hold the money in an escrow account so hopefully they won't need anymore. Payment upfront like this is almost easier for me as I can see what I have left to work with.
Still trying to figure out this laptop. I fully charged it and it said it had 3 hours and 57 minutes. Almost deasd on the four hours in the list of specs. How come then after 15 minutes of surfing the net it is down to one hour and 47 minutes. I think I'll be back to my desk top soon or at least using this plugged in.
OMG! The strangest thing just happened. The thing beeped and then it went into a mode all by itself, updated Windows and then shut down. It didn't even give me a chance to save this post and didn't reopen to it!
My dad gave me a tour book on my country for Christmas. He found it quite by accident at Chapters while looking for the new Michelin guide to London. Let's just say travel, food and accomodation to my country will be a very different experience than Michelin travel. I was amazed he found such a book. I spent sometime reading it over Christmas and immunizations have been at the back of my mind since then.
Now that I have got my citizenship, crimminal check and fingerprints off I can focus on the next several tasks. First, to sort out this Form A. Secondly to print out the agreement with the agency in Ontario, sign it and then get a cashier's cheque from the bank. Third to look at the immunizations I need and contact the travel clinic. The list is very long and costly!!!! Who knew rabies shots were a series of three at over $200 a piece! I will post a long, detailed list in the next couple of days when I have contacted the clinic. First approximate estimate is over $1,000 for shots! Holy cow! I don't know how many needles this will be but I will certainly leave here very well protected. I will also be a walking pharmacy with the meds they tell you to take. I need to get started on the shots a.s.a.p. as some of them are a series of three or four and need to be given a certain length of time apart. Not knowing when the first trip is makes things a little bit harder, but it could be as soon as two to three months from submitting my dossier. The first trip is 7-10 days. I am not too worried about malaria or yellow fever, as things like Hep B, traveller's diarrhoea, giardia, Dengue fever and leishmaniasis are of greater concern and much easier to contract. The rabies shots are a must as about 18 months ago I was bitten by a German Shepard on the Iona Point jetty. I only walked past the dog and it lunged at my arm. Thank goodness, despite it being summer time I had a fleece jacket on as the result was not pretty. I didn't require stitches but the bruising was pretty ugly. It would be my luck that pool-side at the hotel or walking around the market another animal decided I looked pretty yummy and went for a taste!
With this laptop I am having trouble minimizing this page, go to another site, copy the URL and then come back and paste it. I wanted to make a link for the Iona Jetty for all you non-Vancouver followers. The jetty is about 4-5km long and you can walk out and back surrounded by water on both sides while watching planes land or take-off. I've only ever walked all the way out and back once! Come spring I need to put the bike rack on my car and try riding it.
I am now on the hunt for a travel partner. I don't want to make the trip alone, especially the first one and am not sure how to find one. It is made harder by the fact that whoever comes with me would most likely need to take time off work. I can pay airfare and shared accomodation - I don't snore. On Friday I paniced and thought my travel partner needs the same series of shots! I need to find somebody soon. Please contact me if you have any ideas or are interested.
On my first trip I had thought of taking a suitcase or two full of toys or clothes or medical supplies for the orphange as Shauna did when she went to Ethiopia (My Greatest Adventure) but don't know whether I'd be as lucky as she was with the free extra baggage allowance (see Roy). Maybe I need to ask a few of the parents at school that work for Air Canada if they can help. This will get me as far as Toronto. Then maybe the other airline will appreciate and reward my act of kindness. In my travel book there is a link to a website www.stuffyourrucksack.com that I want to check out. It would be lovely to be able to take supplies of one form or another to help out the children's home. Gotta to go before this dies on me. It doesn't lose power minute for minute!
In Shauna's post about maternity leave she says we get a year here in Canada. You do if you give birth but not if you adopt. That's what the EI petition is all about!!!! I hope the gal in Toronto is able to do something with it. I had hoped to see it reach 1,500! Thank you to all those of you who signed it and passed it on to others to sign. It shouldn't even be an issue in a country like ours!
No comments:
Post a Comment